Published on October 2nd, 2012 | by Ivan Widjaya

I can Run My Business Wherever, Whenever I want: What You can Learn from Me?

Okay – first things first, this blog post is not a pitch for you to buy anything from me. Instead, this blog post will let you know why I decide to go location independent in the first place. If you are curious, read on…

Perhaps not like many, I don’t go location independent because I love traveling; fed up with cubicle? Nah – that’s not the reason why I go location independent. You know what drive me? It’s a coincidence really – but it’s all started after I see things I don’t like working for a boss and running location-dependent business.

If you are a returning visitor (thank you!) you must have read somewhere that I was once working in a cubicle and also a store owner. But just in case… here’s a recap…

I work in an education institution for 11 months, and to say the least, those 11 months are probably the most stressful moment of my life; not because the job is challenging (no – it’s boring, actually) but it’s because of the feeling you have waking up in the morning and doing the same thing every single day. Let alone working for 30 years, I’ve had enough with just 11 months.

Then I went to England to earn an MBA degree, hoping that with that degree I can get into a more exciting work at management level. Returning to my country after graduating with so-so performance, I rejected Management Trainee job offers from one of the leading banking institution in the world. I went full force into entrepreneurship because I want my freedom more than status, career and such.

Then I invest in a franchises for sale sector – a leading business service center. Things went well and I expanded into another location – then the recession hit; to cut long story short, I finally lost both franchise units.

I then decide to go online – my number one reason: I don’t have to invest tens of thousands of dollar to start a business with an office and a couple of employees. With a couple of hundreds of dollar, I can get my online entrepreneurship career started.

What a coincidence! I fall in love with everything online business because it’s vibrant, exciting and lucrative. If you stay on top of the latest trend, you win. There’s no status quo online as once you are establishing an online business and people start to copy you, you need to evolve, transform or move on to a new venture. While that sounds like real risks to many, I found it fun and challenging.

Then it struck me – working online, I don’t need any physical office; I don’t need full-time employees. What I need is an Internet connection, a mobile device – preferably a laptop or tablet PC – and hiring freelancers to get things done.

When I establish a website, I always have this in mind: I won’t run it off line. If I start an ecommerce site, I never think that I need a warehouse to run it – I’d go for dropshipping all the way. If I start a blog, I never think that I will need to keep on writing every single post myself; I’d hire freelancers and publish guest posts. If I start a web design business, I want it run online with the help of freelance designers. Need to accept payment? I can do so via Paypal. Need customer signature on the go? I’d just use electronic signature solution.

The bottom line, I never, ever consider a business if it requires me to be bound to a location. Doing so allows me to enjoy what most can’t: I run my business virtually, and “bring” it wherever I go.

What can you learn from me?

If you asked me how I can work while traveling to the Alps, apologize – I can’t give you any advice, simply because I’m not a traveling kind of digital nomad. I work from home, a coffee shop or a vacation spot, but I’m not traveling much due to family consideration.

So, as the title of this blog post tells you, I can tell you a thing or two about setting up an online business in such a way that it can be run virtually from anywhere, anytime you want (not every online business can be run that way, you know!)

What’s more, I am thriving to improve my “earning per hour” by growing my business and reducing my time spent for work via automation, outsourcing and the use of productivity tools available today.

So if you want some advice on those, I can say that I’m pretty good at them – so grab ahold of me… just contact me and I’ll see what I can do to help you in your endeavor!

Tags: location independent business, online business, virtual business

About the Author

Ivan Widjaya A mobile entrepreneur who loves to work anytime, anywhere he wants. He runs several popular business blogs, make money online and live a geoarbitrage lifestyle. He typically works at home and travel with his family when he wants to, often without his business.